Proof That the “Inception Sound” is Taking Over Movie Trailers

Everyone likes to poke fun at the fact that a lot of movie trailers have now taken the BWAAAAAAAR sound from the original Inception trailer and used it for themselves. But I did not realize that this style went this far or this deep in the action movie genre.

The video above shows almost every case of a movie since Inception where this has taken place, and man there are a lot of them. I would only fault them for including Tron Legacy, because it doesn’t seem to qualify. But all the rest? Absolutely, and I don’t think we’ve seen the end of the trend yet either.

What happened to actual….music in trailers? The air horn on an aircraft carrier is not music.

About The Author

Paul

I think I’m a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I’ve learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point.

It’s hilarious that this has been brought up … and then what happens this week – the new Star Trek trailer debuts and all I kept thinking the entire time was how that Inception sound is used all the damn time!

There’s a theme with all the movies that tries to copy the sound from Inception. They are all bad movies.

TMek7

wasn’t this sound also used in one of the Terminator trailers, pre-dating Inception ?

Josh

Yeah, this has been done for years. Each Transformers film used the technique, even the two before Inception. The Tron trailer used music that had been created before the Inception trailers as well. I believe Bay used the sound for The Island, as well.

Honestly, just take a look at movies of Hans Zimmer and his proteges (Jablonsky, Lorne Balfe, Klaus Badelt, Streitenfeld, and Jackman). They almost all use it to promote the movies.

Joe

Yeh this sound doesn’t remind me of Inception, it reminds me of The Terminator. Maybe Terminator 2, did they both use the same sound?

RBourn

It’s been well documented that low frequency sounds produce feelings of awe and dread. Almost all of the films shown include something larger or more vast than regular human experience, and the makers of the film want to tap into that as it adds tension and suspense to a trailer.

Obviously, the industry being as boneheaded as it is this would only happen as a fashion after a famous film does it.

This is like the James Horner music from Aliens (right before the big explosion) that was used in a lot of movie trailers over a decade after its release.

DBrew

Your only Hole though is Tron:Legacy came out the same Year as Inception in 2010 and as a matter of fact you can argue Inception came out in July and Tron in Dec but I would than beg to reason the TRON:Legacy Trailer teaser was released long before INCEPTION Trailer! And that Tron:Legacy had been in the works for a very long time with the Soundtrack being used through out the movie and promoted in Trailers as well by that of DAFT PUNK!! Who’s beats and sounds have been there’s and there’s alone since they have been active since 1993 !!! So from my conclusion is that all these movies got the BRAAAAAM!!! From Daft Punks sound/ Tron Legacy !! Fuck your Theory HOW IS THAT FOR FACT BITCH !!

Semisonic

The Inception trailer track was composed by Zack Hemsey, not Hans Zimmer.

I always linked this sound with Shutter Island, that came a few months before Inception and has A LOT of these honking sounds

James

For the record — the sound effect is manipulated by taking a recording of something as simple as a public trash can lid, and opening it to get the creeking/groaning sound. You can then further edit the sound through effects manipulation on software such as protools to achieve the full sound you hear on trailers.

Mass Effect also used this sound back in 2007, and did an amazing job making it the pinnacle ‘sound of death’.